Being There
by MysticLady3
Summary: They may fight and argue a lot but when needed, they are there for each other. JxC. PLEASE REVIEW!


Summary: They may argue but when it counts, they are there for each other.

I don't own JN.

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><p><strong>*Saturday Morning*<strong>

No sane person would want to be in school on a Saturday morning. But that is where 16 year old Jimmy Neutron found himself on a cool October day. He had received detention earlier that week from what was the 2nd major fight he and his rival, Cindy Vortex, this month. Like most fights they seem to have, it was likely her fault it started.

Speaking of Cindy, he looked to his left and saw her at the front of the class. She had her head down, her hands covering her face. He found this weird as she always tried to annoy him further in detention in the past. Come to think of it, she's been rather subdued in the last two or three days.

The teacher was out of the room at the moment so he took the chance to walk over to her. He sat down in the chair next to her's and nudge her shoulder. He refrained from gasping as he looked at her face, visible tear tracks on it.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She looked back down at the desk, not answering him. It was silent for several seconds before he nudged her again.

"Seriously Cindy, what's wrong?"

"Why don't you mind your damn business?" she replied in a low voice, anger underlining it. She lowered her head to the desk. He was about to retort when the sound of footsteps approaching could be heard. He ran back to his seat just as the door opened.

"Ms. Vortex, there will not be any sleeping in detention," Mr. Harris said and she lifted her head immediately. He looked around the class.

"Alright," he started "Only 15 more minutes to go. I hope some of you will take this as a way to act more civilizied," He looked knowingly at Jimmy and Cindy.

Jimmy took the time to think back on how Cindy could've possibly become like this. Monday was when they had the fight. It was between classes, right before lunch. He had brought in a modified version of his skrink ray. Like usual, Sheen and Carl were the first to see it. In most cases to try it out. Just as he started explaining, Cindy and Libby appeared next to him.

_*Flashback*_

_"Damn Neutron, your creativity must be low. I thought you already invented the shrink ray. Or is this something that will actually make your head normal size," she and Libby burst into laughter._

_"For your information Vortex, I have highly redesigned my shrink ray. Unlike the first time, I will successfully shrink youir mouth," Before she could do anything, he pointed the ray to her mouth and pressed the bottom. Cindy's eyed grew bigger has a mouth shrunk. Jimmy watched with a satsified smile before it turned to horror. Cindy's mouth had shrunk but it also disappeared. The area where her mouth normally is was now blank ivory skin._

_Cindy's shoulders heaved as fear filled her eyes. Jimmy scrambled to fix it as she near became hysterical. Her arms were waving frantically as Libby tried to calm her down while not staring openly at her friend's face. With the bottons adjusted, he aim the ray once again at her face. Her mouth slowing started to grow back and in seconds was back to their normal size._

_"Woah!" Carl and Sheen looked at each other and slowly walked backwards, in a hurry to not witness what will go down._

_"I'm sorry Vortex. Maybe I didn't properly calcula-"he never finished his apology. Cindy grabbed him by his collar and slammed him against the lockers._

_"Cindy," Libby warned. She knew it was going to get ugly._

_"Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you," Cindy said in a dangerous voice._

_"Texas has one the highest death row execution rate in the country?" Jimmy offered. Cindy growled low. "Look Vortex, it was a simple mistake-"_

_"Everything to you is a simple mistake. Don't you get it!"_

_"At least I am doing something worthy instead of wasting money on things I don't need or gossiping but some lame celebrity. I have a purpose." he yelled. People were gathering around. Libby could only shake her head and hope it will end quickly._

_"Excuse me? I have a purpose and unlike you it's not to invent things that could kill people."_

_"My inventions will not kill anyone!"_

_"I'm not so sure about that." she smirked. Jimmy's face contored into anger and he shoved her away. Cindy stumbled before she shoved him back. Chants of "fight!" started but quickly died when a security guard cut through the crowd and grabbed the pair. He pulled them apart before dragging them to the main office._

_The principal only looked at them before asking what happend. They both launched into their stories and their voiced grew in volume. Before it could go further, Mrs. O'Neal put up her hands and they grew silent. She explained it was the the second time this school year they had gotten in trouble for their fighting._

_"I think you two should talk to the counselor about your issues."_

_"She's the one with issues," Jimmy replied. Cindy stuck her tongue out at him._

_"Enough," Mrs. O'Neal looked at him. "If you aren't willing to deal with it, then maybe detention will straightened you out."_

_Jimmy and Cindy jumped in protesting, blaming the other for all their problems, shoving each other again. She silenced them once more._

_"Well I was only going to give it for the next three days but now you have earned Saturday detention. And I will hear nothing more. Lunch is about to start and I highly suggest that you try to avoid anymore confrontations because then I will be force to expel you." The teens stared at her before walking to the door._

_*End Flashback*_

For the next three days, they spent their afternoons in detention. The teacher always left and that is when they tried to annoy the other. Everything seem normal. Until Thursday morning.

Jimmy noticed, as Cindy walked into school, that something was odd. She had a worn an old t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. Her hair was in a messy bun and dark circles lined her eyes. Cindy always took pride to look her best and this was definitely not. Through out the day, she seemed in her own world. In their AP Calculus class, she was called to the office to go home. It didn't seem strange until she missed school the next day. Cindy never missed school, unless something horrible happened or they were off on some adventure.

Something was definitely wrong.

Frankly Jimmy was suprised she showed up for detention but he figured she didn't want to make it up later. Jimmy looked up and saw that it was noon: detention was over. He got up and saw that Cindy was already out the door. When he was outside the classroom, he saw Libby waiting near Cindy's locker. Cindy barely acknowledged her friend and continued to the entrance doors. Taking it as an oppurtunity to find out what is wrong, Jimmy walked over to Libby.

"Hey Libby,"

"Hey." He noticed she had a similar haunted look on her face that Cindy had aquired recently.

"I was wondering: What's wrong with Cindy? She looks like a zombie."

Libby sighed, "I don't know if I should be the one telling you."

"I asked Cindy but she just told me off."

"No surprise. She is going through a lot."

"Just tell me."

Libby sighed again before she leaned in and whispered "Cindy's grandfather died on Wednesday. Today is the burial service."

Jimmy's heart momentarily stopped, "Oh dang." He rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah, she's taken it really hard. He is the one who got her into karate. She loved him." Jimmy looked over to Cindy as she leaned on the wall next to the entrance, her head down. She shook her head and headed outside.

"When is the service?" Jimmy asked.

"In an hour at Retroville Cemetary." Libby gave a small smile and jogged after her friend. Jimmy stood by the lockers as he processed everything. Making up his mind, he reached for his cell and dialed his house number.

His mother picked up after two rings, "Hey mom. Yeah detention just got out. Listen, can you do me a favor?"

He rushed home and after explaining the situation to his parents, he got dress and headed out to the cemetary.

***Retroville Cemetary: 1:07pm***

It was too much of a beautiful day to be burying a love one. Cindy sat on a chair next to the burial spot. Soon the hearse bringing her grandfather's coffin will arrive. She couldn't believe this was all real. Her grandfather was one of the strongest people she knew. It couldn't have all ended with a heart attack. But she knew life isn't easy. Her mother dabbed her eyes next to her and her father, who was to bury his father, was talking to his sister. She looked like had not slept in days and Cindy knew the feeling. Libby was standing right behind her with support, like she always been.

Her heart started beating fast as she saw her male relatives walk to the hearse that had pulled in. Libby reached down and wrapped her arms around Cindy, whispering words of comfort. She then let go with a squeeze of Cindy's hand. Cindy felt someone else behind her but figured it was a cousin or something. An itch started on her shoulder and just as she scratched it, a large male hand encased over hers. She still didn't turned around until she felt him leaning on her chair.

_'I know that cologne,_' she thought. She turned slowly and met Jimmy's blue gaze. He was wearing a pair of black slacks and a blue short sleeve shirt. They continued to look at each other and only when the priest started talking did she turn away. Her hand was still grasping his.

They may fight and argue a lot but when it really counts, they were there for each other.

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><p><strong>AN: I seem to have gotten slightly over my writer's block. It is not completely over but at least I was able to write this down. It took me a while but I am glad. I did this kind of piece as a way to get my feelings out as this happened to me earlier this year. I am someone who will hold it all in for as long as I can. It is hard for me to tell my feelings though there are some who will argue that is not the case.**

**Please review! **

**Oh and this is not the start of the one shot stories I mention before. I will start that eventually and I have a couple of multi-chapter stories in mind.**


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